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Spatial and functional changes of settlement network in the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland since the 1930s Dawid Soszyński, Tadeusz J. Chmielewski University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Abstract The paper presents an analysis of spatial differentiation of settlement features and an evaluation of main directions of changes in the functional and spatial structure and in the character of villages in the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland over the period from the 1930’s till the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Differentiation of natural conditions, as well as situation at the border of two cultural areas – the Polish and the Ukrainian, permitted the identification of three settlement zones within the area of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland: A) the western zone, both formerly and currently inhabited mainly by Poles, fairly densely populated till now; B) the transition zone, where formerly Polish and Ukrainian settlement merged, with formerly low and currently medium density of population; C) the eastern zone, that until the 1940’s was mainly inhabited by Ukrainians, formerly with medium and now with generally low population density. Within those zones also sub-zones were identified (A1, A2 etc.), differing mainly in distinct types of traditional spatial structure of villages and in the character of contemporary housing. Over the 80-year period under study, dynamic changes have taken place in the spatial structure of settlement within the area of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland. In the first part of the period studied, lasting from the 1930’s to the 1970’s, a decrease in the built-up area was recorded in as many as 32% of the villages, related mainly with war losses and population dislodgement operations. This concerned mostly the eastern zone, where the level of the shrinkage was as much as 64%, and partially also the central zone. Stand-alone housing disappeared over the whole area of the Lakeland. Spatial development took place mainly in commune centres and certain villages situated on the main roads of the region. In total, increase in the built-up area was recorded in 19% of all villages, primarily in the western zone. 1 In the second part of the studied period, lasting from mid-1970’s, mainly in the south- western part of the Lakeland, i.e. in sub-zones A2 and B2, and also in the north-eastern part (sub-zone C1), there took place an intensive expansion of recreational building, often with very low aesthetic values. Overall, spatial development within that period was noted in 29% of all villages, more than a half of which owe that development to the tourist function of the area. New settlements and centres were built outside of the existing village systems, with no respect to the tradition of the cultural heritage of the region. Also, there reappeared scattered distribution of buildings within the landscape. This led to a disturbance in the structure and character of the village-type of settlement systems. And to the degradation of nature and landscape values of the area. At almost all remaining villages (71%) no significant changes were observed in the size of the built-up areas. In the first decade of the 21st century new summer housing began to appear also within the existing villages. A great majority of villages in the area still retain their agricultural functions. Over the last 3 decades, however, the importance of those functions decreases to the advantage to farm- tourism and recreation. In many villages, especially in commune centres and in villages situated in suburban areas, there is development of the industrial, services and housing functions. On the other hand, there has been a reduction in the number of villages whose inhabitants live mainly off fishery and forestry. There are also ongoing fundamental changes in the architecture and general appearance of the villages. It is expected that further evolution of the settlement network of the region studied will be related primarily with the development of farm-tourism, nature tourism and services, and in some of the sub-zones – with intensification of agricultural production. The next decade may be of key importance for the evolution of new quality in the landscape of villages of West Polesie. 1. Introduction The Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland is an area where from the 1930’s notable changes took place in the spatial and functional structure of settlement. The changes were caused by the military operations of the war, shifts of the national borders, vast transformations in natural environment and in land ownership structure, fundamental shifts in the concepts of economic utilisation of the resources and values of the region, development of a system of protected areas, and development of the system of local self-government. The varied rates of intensity 2 of those factors caused the high dynamics and variation in the spatial development of the individual villages within the studied area. The objective of the study was presentation of the differentiation in the character of settlement in the area of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland, and characterisation of the main directions of changes in the functional and spatial structure and in the character of the villages over a period from the 1930’s till the end of the first decade of the 21st century. This is of particular importance for proper management of the structure and functions of the settlement network of the region in the future, and for the protection of the unique landscape of Polesie against the negative phenomena related with the processes of chaotic urbanisation. 2. Study area and method The study included all villages with village administration, situated in the Łęczna- Włodawa Lakeland, within the boundaries of the “West Polesie” Biosphere Reserve (139,917ha), as well as villages that are functionally connected with the administrated ones. Additionally, the study included also villages that were depopulated after 1945, and also certain settlements that are not villages with autonomous administration yet function as autonomous settlement units. The study included also characterisation of the only town situated within the Biosphere Reserve, i.e. Ostrów Lubelski, and three towns – seats of administrative districts (Łęczna, Parczew, Włodawa), situated outside of the boundaries of the Biosphere Reserve, yet in its close vicinity and playing an important role in serving the settlement of the region. In total, 173 settlement units of the region were analysed, including 169 villages (Fig. 1). For the determination of spatial changes in settlement of the area the authors used maps of the Military Institute of Geography in the scale of 1:100 000 (from 1937 and 1938), made available by the Map Archives of the MIG (1919 – 1939), topographic maps, 1:10 000 and 1:25 000 from 1973, 1976, 1984, and aerial photographs in the scale of 1:10 000 from the years 2002-2004, made available by the web portal geoportal.gov.pl. All the source materials were reduced to the uniform scale of 1:100 000 using Corel Draw 12. Based on the scale- modified material, determination as made of the scope of changes in the built-up area of each of the villages within the two main time-intervals under analysis - 1) from the end of the 1930’s to the 1970’s, and 2) from the beginning of the 1970’s to the end of the first decade of the 21st century. 3 In the analyses carried out two levels of intensity of development or regress of villages were defined. High – when within the time interval studied the built-up area of a given village increased or decreased by more than 20%, and low – when the observed changes amounted to from 5 to 20% of the built-up area. Fig. 1 – Physiographic division of the study area with marked out boundaries of the “West Polesie” Biosphere Reserve 1 – lakes and ponds; 2 - rivers; 3 – analysed villages; 4 – boundary of the “West Polesie” Biosphere Reserve; 5 – boundaries of physiographic regions; 6 – boundaries of physiographic subregions (after A. Chałubińska and T. Wilgat 1954) The second part of the study was devoted to analysis of the contemporary functions of the particular localities, and of changes in those functions over the past eight decades. Data for the determination of those functions originated from the development strategies of the particular communes and from other commune documents, from literature, and from interviews conducted in all the communes of the region. The primary criterion in the estimation of the importance of a function for a given locality was the number of people related with that function. Specific functions (e.g. housing, services, recreation, industrial etc.) were assigned to the localities in which a given centre (of industry, services, etc.) is located, and not to those from which the employees of that centre came. It was assumed that a given 4 function was important for a specific locality when the number of people involved (together with the members of their families) constituted at least 15% of the total population of that locality. In certain cases also the area occupied by a given function (e.g. summer houses) was taken into account. In such cases it was accepted that the function was important if the related buildings constituted at least 10% of the total built-up area of a given village. 3. Results 3.1. Zonal differentiation of settlement Intensive development of settlement in the studied area took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, i.e. after the fertile areas of the Lublin and Volyn Uplands had been settled and brought under agricultural use. The natural conditions caused that the density of population in the studied area was always low compared to the neighbouring regions.